The present invention relates to the field of communications. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for serving IP users by providing a vocal/graphical interface between the user and agents which are connected to a call center which is linked to an IP network.
Several customer serving organizations provide services, such as information, and sales to customers by telephonic interaction, which reduces the operating costs, and enables the customer to be served efficiently, with no need to meet the vendor face-to-face. In practice, the interface between the customer and the vendor is provided by an xe2x80x9cagentxe2x80x9d (sometimes known as the customer service representative), which is a person, sitting in the vendor""s call-center and answering the customer calls. Upon receiving a call from the customer, the call is routed to an available agent which serves the customer. Maximal customer service is achieved by reducing the customer waiting time, until an available agent is allocated to answer his incoming call. In some applications, agents are replaced by a voice answering system, which provides limited services to the customer. Incoming calls, entering a call-center are usually distributed to the agents of the call-center by an Automatic Call Distributor (ACD), which receives incoming calls and distributes them between a plurality of agents which are directly connected to the ACD by telephone lines.
Growing service requirements are associated with customers which are Internet Protocol (IP) users, such as Internet or Intranet users. By using the term xe2x80x9cIPxe2x80x9d it is meant to include any nework or any system, in which data packets are arranged and transferred according to the Internet Protocol (e.g., the Internet, an Intranet, a LAN, a WAN and others) or any other xe2x80x9cpacket switched networkxe2x80x9d and associated protocol including any network or any system, in which data is divided to packets of fixed or variable size and then transferred to its destination. These IP users access the vendor via his Web site, and are served by an answering system. Currently available answering systems, such as Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems, offers the user several service menus, which are operated by selecting different features using a telephone keypad. The service is limited since information about the required services may be supplied to the system by a specific number of digits. Other systems, such as voice recognition systems, receive voice information from the user, which is processed and translated to desired operations. However, this service is also insufficient, since voice recognition is limited to a specified number of words, and suffers from errors and/or misunderstanding due to voice distortions and different accents. It is therefore desirable, to expand the range of available service features that may be provided to the IP user, by exploiting the graphical tools of the IP user.
In several systems, wherein interaction with a live agent is desired, selecting a specific agent to provide the desired service is sometimes preferred. U.S. Pat. No. 5,703,943 describes a system that serves telephonically connected (callers) users. The caller number is identified using Automatic Number Identification (ANI) and recorded with the preferred agent. Future calls from the same caller are automatically routed to the preferred agent whenever possible, and queued to any available agent if not. If a caller has not completed a transaction, that transaction number is assigned to the caller by the agent who is serving the call. That transaction and the next call are transferred to the same agent that previously handled the transaction.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,788,715 describes an ACD system that provides the caller audio information about the queuing time, prior to connection to an agent. The caller uses this information to defer the call to a later time if the queue is excessively long, to wait if the queue is short or to leave a message. The information is periodically updated so as to indicate a progress in the queue.
All the systems in these described patents are directed to serve telephonically connected users. These systems lack the capability to provide visual information about the current quality of service and available resources to IP users, prior to call establishment. Furthermore, the provided service does not fully exploit the available IP features and results in limited service.
All the methods described above have not yet provided satisfactory solutions to the problem of expanding the range of services for IP users.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for expanding the range of services for IP users, which overcome the drawbacks of the prior art.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for expanding the range of services for IP users, which provide the IP user visual information about the current quality of service and available resources, prior to call establishment.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for expanding the range of services for IP users, according to the history of contact with the IP user.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for expanding the range of services for IP users, according to the current status of agents who are preferred by the IP user.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.
The invention is directed to a method for connecting IP users, such as Internet users, to customer services representatives (agents). Agents are connected to a call center that may be linked to an IP network, such as an Internet web site. Visual information about quality of service, available resources, and history of previous connections, is transferred to the IP user via the IP network prior to voice call establishment, and a voice call is established according to inputs from the IP user which are responsive to the transferred information. A plurality of IP users are connected to an IP network, each via a suitable End User Equipment, such as a PC with a visual display screen. Each IP user has access to the home page or the web site of the call center via the IP network. The web site resides on a server which is connected to a call-center with a plurality of local agents that serve incoming calls from the IP users via a gateway (a device for converting data between two dissimilar protocols) and an ACD or a PBX with ACD features. An IP user who accesses a web site initiates a session by placing a request for a Voice Over IP (VoIP) call to the serving call-center. The server of the call-center identifies previously connected IP users, or generates a unique user ID for each first time user. Identification of IP users is carried out by a unique user information (user ID), such as the user name and an optional password. The user ID is stored in the ACD database and in the End User Equipment. Since the call-center comprises local agents, the status of each agent is available in real-time. This status information is stored at the call-center database.
Preferably, the call center consists of an ACD for routing incoming calls from IP users to agents, a gateway for converting data from IP to telephonic protocol and vice versa, a first database for storing information about the status/availability of each agent, a second database for storing information about previous contact between each IP user and agents, and a control circuitry for controlling transfer/storage of information and routing calls to agents. Preferably, if the IP user is a first time user, a unique ID is recorded for each first time IP user. This ID is further used as a log-in procedure. Preferably, only the second database may be required if the information about the availability of each agent is obtained by polling the agents.
Information about the status and skills of each agent, which is stored at the first database, is sent over the IP network and displayed on the screen of the IP user. A first selection menu is also displayed on the screen and the IP user is requested to select between waiting for a preferred agent or sending voice or text messages. Preferably, available agents are displayed on the first menu, as well as their queuing time. The selection of a preferred agent is received and information about the status of the preferred agent is retrieved from a first database and the queuing time to the preferred agent is continuously displayed until call establishment. If the IP user selects to wait, a second selection menu is displayed, thereby offering the IP user to continue to queue, or to queue for another agent, or to leave a voice message which may be delivered to the agent via voice mail. Preferably, the IP user may send a text message which is displayed on the agent""s display. The IP user is connected to the queue to the preferred agent or a voice message for the preferred agent is recorded, according to the selection from the second menu, while continuing to display the queuing time. Finally, after making all the desired selections and knowing the queuing time, a Voice-over-IP call between the IP user and the call-center may be established. The details of the connection between each IP user and his preferred agent during the current session are stored in the second database.
Preferably, if the IP user is a previously connected user, information about previous connections with agents and skills of all agents is displayed together with a first selection menu on each IP user display screen. If the IP user does not wish to speak to a previous agent, he can select another agent.
Preferably, if the IP user is a previously connected user who wishes to be served by a previously connected agent, information about previous connections with agents is displayed to the IP user, together with a first selection menu, thereby offering the IP user to select a preferred previously connected agent. The queuing time to the preferred previously connected agent is displayed on the IP user display screen together with the first selection menu, and when the IP user makes a selection, the selection of the IP user is received. A second selection menu which offers the IP user the option of leaving a message, selecting another agent, going back to the main screen or continuing to wait in the queue is then shown to the user. Unless one of the other choices are taken, the user remains in the queue to the preferred agent. Preferably, visual information, such as promotions, may be displayed while queuing. In the event that the IP user at any time decided that the queue is too long, the user is offered the option to either leave a message to the preferred agent or choose another agent. The message to be left for the preferred agent may be a text or a voice message. The details of the connection between each IP user and his preferred previously connected agent for the current session are also stored in the second database.
The invention is also directed to an apparatus for IP userxe2x80x94customer representative connection. The apparatus, comprises circuitry for the transfer of visual information about the current quality of service, the available resources, and history of previous connections to the IP user, prior to call establishment, and circuitry for establishing a call according to inputs from the IP user which are responsive to the information.